Saturday, June 20, 2015

Year of the Cicada

This is the year for Brood XXIII periodical cicada which emerge every 13 years...genus Magicicada. Shown above are the empty nymph exoskeleton on a burr oak.

I rather enjoy the sound of the annual cicadas...particularly in the morning. On the other hand....the periodical cicadas....their deafening and never ending buzz can be unnerving.

After slicing open a small tree twig with her ovipositor, the female cicada lays her eggs in the open wound. The shear quantity of egg deposit sites will result in some damage to the outer small, thin branches of the trees. Over the summer, I watched a rather large pin oak, drop a good number of twigs. Very young trees can receive significant damage as happened to an apple seedling that I had planted last year.

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This is my Father’s world,and to my listening earsAll nature sings,and round me ringsthe music of the spheres.This is my Father’s world:I rest me in the thoughtOf rocks and trees,of skies and seas;His hand the wonders wrought.

"And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31